Ben Blizel

FB Gallery Driver

Name: Ben Blizel

When did you first get truly excited about drifting and who influenced you to develop the drift style you have? Why did you choose to take the path through drifting that you did?

It’s 2005. Far from home, young in spirit I was introduced to the earliest of my fetishes with cool cars drifting. At the time street racing was very popular in Phoenix. But that one night everything changed for me and it was no longer the pursuit of the highway but that of the industrial complexes.

To me it’s been captivating to watch how the car culture advances. Ive always felt the “street sweepers” were the coolest. It looked like they hovered. Mostly Big aero like some spaceship and I  needed to have that. My first few S-chassis were very experimental. They never really got out of the garage due to my poor mechanical skills at the time (I was developing lol).  My s14 was the first iteration of the things I loved. Low, Bright, Obnoxiously cool.

Life took over and I had to part ways. During that time of absence I wanted one more go at everything I’ve learned through the years to make a car. Insert R32. This final car is the accumulation of all the stuff I’ve learned. Now that im in a place where I can fully enjoy the car after building for 7 years, I look forward to mildly tweaking it to my liking and fine tuning. 

I thank all that is possible to my family, friends, Team and most importantly my Wife Amanda.

When did you first hear about drifting?

2005 Avondale AZ. Sitting in class overhearing a future friend from Guam talking about some late nights they were having in the city. I was intrigued about these underground car meet ups that were being talked about (not totally knowing what was going on at them). At the time all I knew that was popular was street racing.

When did you first get truly excited about drifting?

It wasn’t until HIN later that year that I physically saw drifting in real life. In that 30 minute demo my life was turned upside down. I went from highway pulls to what do I need to sell in my life to do this? I have never felt the same about anything since. Drifting truly turned my world around. Nothing brings me joy like it.

Who influenced you to develop the drift style you have?

It’s hard for me to physically name these people because I’ve taken tiny pieces of so many people I’ve met or encountered that I should say just about everyone in my life is the reason my style is what it is. One of the most memorable things to me was seeing absolutely “Street Sweeper” cars being driven bananas. Watching someone pilot a beautiful machine inches from death, barely hovering across the ground will always be a style I want to achieve. Out of all those things one of the more notable people or groups would be TMF-Opposition. They were a Local MN club at the time when I returned from AZ that I looked up to. The cars showed the pride and craftsmanship that I wanted to always hold to a standard myself. I also owe the internet homies of Chicagoarea240sx (Edgar and friends) along with my Team as their guidance was pivotal to my end result.

Why did you choose to take the path through drifting that you did? Drifting to me is an expression. Everything on my car is a reflection to my end goal, Fun. What I enjoy most with grassroots driving is there’s no such thing as winners or losers, just a bunch of rad dudes doing rad things and having a great time doing it.

Special Thanks!!! ~ to all the photographers that supplied photos! Be sure to check out their respective Instagram accounts - THEY HAVE AMAZING PICTURES! @kyliebruner_photography @ch3lt0n @blizel (if your photos are being used in the post and would like them to be tagged please DM us ~ THANK YOU!)